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Eric Jones V.I.P. Director of Product Development 2101 Posts |
Again, I want to thank Steve for making me the Guest of Honor this month. I feel as though I'm a weird choice for this because most magicians have only begun hearing about the stuff I do in the past year or so through the products that I've been lucky enough to put out. However, most of you know me from this forum and my videos on YouTube.
There's been a lot of debate about the accessibility of knowledge here on the World Wide Web, and some feel as though magic is too accessible. Others don't see a problem with it. I know for a fact, that I wouldn't have products on the market, lecturing around the world or even be the Guest of Honor here on the Café without people being instantly accessible. On the other hand, torrent sites and P2P sites funnel illegal downloads world wide, ruining our niche market. How do YOU think we find balance?
“We're two tigers away from an act in Vegas.” Greg House M.D.
<BR> <BR>http://www.ericjonesmagic.com |
Pete Biro 1933 - 2018 18558 Posts |
Judgement. You need to weed out the "apcray" -- read books as much as you can. Find a mentor or be one. Don't rush. Become a performer not a puzzle doer.
Love your family, friends and audiences. Give more than take.
STAY TOONED... @ www.pete-biro.com
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Eric Jones V.I.P. Director of Product Development 2101 Posts |
Pete,
I think people's definition of good judgement sways. I can't count how many people come up to me and tell me how they want to purchase magic from me directly, because they downloaded it first, liked it and now want the real product. I want to choke them personally.....
“We're two tigers away from an act in Vegas.” Greg House M.D.
<BR> <BR>http://www.ericjonesmagic.com |
MitchellMac Loyal user 210 Posts |
I know this is weird, but I think for online sales the prices should be raised. why? Because if prices are too cheep then some people will buy the effect even if they're not serious about magic. If people are determined to do well in the art of magic and they want something online they will find a way to get the money for the effect.
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Agaton Loyal user Manila 299 Posts |
I'm still very optimistic about it. Being in a country with a very small resource for magic, the internet opened it's doors for us. Taxes and shipping costs may still be my biggest thorn, but On Demand downloads lightens it up.
But then again, seeing a kid who horribly performs your great effect "Audio" in Youtube (which appears right beside your promo video) is very sad. |
jman466 New user 32 Posts |
Hmm - this is a pretty great question, but far too huge a topic to get much thoughts in a week. I suppose there are a number of points of view to consider right off:
Is the Internet bad because of illegal downloads? Is the Internet bad because of poor performances? Is the Internet bad because of exposure? Is the Internet good (or bad!) because it allows sharing of information more easily? Is the Internet good because it allows us to get a "feel" for a product before we buy it? Is the Internet good because it allows us to reach a market that we might not reach otherwise? Is the Internet good, or is it bad for magic period? That's a hard one to answer! I work primarily in a field where I deal with the good and bad of the Internet quite directly on a daily basis - and I still don't know if I could answer the question. I try to tell people that the Internet is a "thing" and is neither good nor bad - but the people on the Internet - well like in any society they can span the gamut! I find it very interesting that people admit to stealing your video's and then offer to buy it because they like it. One problem is that there is no easy way to tell how many people decide to do the right thing eventually, how many never do, and how many (and this might be more common than you know) that download "stuff" and never even know. It would be interesting to find out how much of each goes on! As soon as information hits the Internet, the secret is gone - whether its magic or what celebrity hit rehab this week! And people somehow decide to buy into the fact that if they read/see it on the Internet it has to be true. Still, having had the pleasure of seeing you perform before live (at the Castle), I feel confident my guests that night - had someone exposed how something was done - would not have thought less of the memory of your show. They raved all night long. So at least in some small ways, for some groups of people, the exposure might not be as damaging as it could be. Stealing material is a completely different matter, at least for me. A theft is certainly a lot easier thing to quantify than the exposure of a secret. As someone who has been the victim of theft I know that it never feels good - not even when you get your items back (or in your case they pay you properly for them). Yet it won't stop - people will continue to download things for quite some time. I think that these are really good questions, that have much broader implications than just magic. And certainly I don't have any answers to them - but I appreciate you making me think about them! Thanks, Jason |
MitchellMac Loyal user 210 Posts |
You tube is one of the worst things as far as magic exposure. In some videos they reveal patented things. We should all copyright everything we ever create so they cant do that. Although the internet can expose tons of things I will explain some of my experiences with internet exposure.
The Incident (wow is this over dramatized or what?) I was at school when I did a simple double lift. Or a glorified double lift for that matter. I just controlled their card to the top did a double lift and then folded the card up. Then I explained how Houdini would hide stuff in his throat to help him do the tricks. So I told the audience that their card was really in my throat and I put their card in my mouth, made a bunch of painful gestures and showed that it was in fact their card. So the next day a kid that I showed the effect to wanted to show me a magic trick. He must have youtube'd how to do magic or something. He asks me if I know what the stupidest trick is. Ummmmm okay. He picks up two cards shows them to me and puts them back. All it was was a terrible double lift. But it had nothing to do with the trick I had done. He had no idea what I had done because I performed it 100 times better than the guys that revealed it on youtube. |
Jumbopenny Loyal user Bay Area, Northern California USA 257 Posts |
Of course there are many positives and negatives to the internet. For me it's been a huge positive. I remember decades ago not having access to other magicians or shops. Buying through old catalogs was not easy. You could spend hundreds and thousands of dollars without getting much that was useful. Catalogs always described the effects as amazing with some cartoon that always led your imagination wild. Progress was slow then, but not now. Of course I would probably feel differently if I were a producer of magic dvds.
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The Magic Cafe Forum Index » » The September 2010 entrée: Eric Jones » » Internet.....harm or help? » » TOPIC IS LOCKED (0 Likes) |
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